Widescreen Gaming Forum

hei mates,
my english is not very practised, so i hope the translation is understandable..
almost new to this forum but read a while through many posts. nevertheless, my problem was described somehow in some posts, but with different fokus.

as i'm not a very experienced guy in video, i'll ask for some advise.

my computer enviroment described:

i7@3,2GhZ
6GB RAM
HD 5870 875M 1GB DDR5 DP HDMI DUAL DVI PCI-E XXX
3x Samsung 2450p@60Hz (Full HD 1920x1080)
Gigabyte X58-UD7 (Rev 1.0 )

i run this config since about 1½ years now on 2 x Samsung 2450.
there was a thrid monitor i attached to the GPU earlier and this was running on an older Ilyama 19" monitor via Sapphire active single DP to DVI connector.
due to some restricted desktop space (the one on which monitors stand physically ;-) )the 19" monitor was removed.
but at this time it was working and i was impressed about so much to see. playing games in 2 monitors mode was basically never an option, due to the point that the screen center was more often covered by the two edges of both screens, which made it a bit unusageable to play (except EVE, on which i could move the screen center left/right).
desktop wallpaper was arranged nicely with DisplayFusion 3.3.1. which is doing good.

so far so good.

no moved house, also got more desktop space to put things around... my little journey in triple worlds starts.


after poking around with some settings and DVI cables, i got the three monitors working. at least for two weeks.
in general Eyefinity as well as simple windows assignment ("extend desptop to this display") did work (at least for two weeks).
disabled the eyefinity group due to the point that with an Eyefinity group my taskbar becomes about 1,6 meters long which is failry uncomfortable. so i set only windows to extend desktop on screens left an right from center which worked as well so that i can move my windowed frames easily around during work.

now, it happens follwoing:

turn on computer, about 10mins everything looks good, three monitors are alive..
followd by a series of three time ding-dong - dong-ding (installing devices at Win7 sound) and some re-arrangment of the screen desktops (monitor/desktop assignments move) the monitor on the active DP to DVI adapter turns off with black screen.

Win7 tells me, monitor is connected but can't get the screen on.
pulling and re-plugin the DP adapter enables screen again for about 3sek to 5 mins.
i also left my computer for a while an returned after 30mins and all screens have been active. moving the mouse or keyboard and the uninstalling, reinstalling etc sequence started, followed by the DP-connected monitor to switch off.
connecting 2 monitors to the two DVI ports works. connecting one DVI and one DP connections works as well. connecting all three things doesn't work any more longer than some short time.
the HDMI interface on the GPU was never used.

i cleaned the fan tray of the GPU, temperature is now a little bit lower and typically CCC shows after the computer is "on temperatur" between 45-50C° (work, office, internet etc) up to 69C° (while playing some game)

before buying a new adapter to exclude the option of an faulty device (can an adapter break down by time??), i'd like to ask about some things i read in this forum:

- what monitor sequence is recommended? main screen (center) connected on DVI 1, second to DVI 2, third to DP?
- does it makes a difference if using an active DP to DVI adapter with USB or w/o?
- is it of importance that the total screen resoltion becomes 5760x1080 to the DP to DVI adapter in terms of timing or synch? (i read the DP adapter go maximum with on single DVI 1920x1200, other do more on dual-DVI adapters)
- how do i find an information about the Radeon 5870 which DVI interfaces are on the card deployed? (single DVI or dual DVI, and what does it mean for my plan with triple monitors?)
- can a DP to DVI adapter going faulty? i mean, theres not alot to see except cable and connector. but is there something inside that can break down? i read a lot about working or not working DP to DVI adapters. but never read about one that broke down.
- what can be a reason, why a 2 monitor setups work (DVI+DVI or DVI+DP) but 3 monitor doesn't any more?
- what makes it strange for me, why did it work for two weeks?
- how can i test the GPU or where can i find CCC logs that can assist in localisation of the problem? or is there a way to "monitor" the holy thing to track what causes the de-, and re-installing with switch off at the end?


wow... sorry, so many questions. but the more i read in this forum, the more questions raised.
greetings from germany!
sincerely
pete

Hi Pete,

From what I've heard, this is a fairly common problem with the active DP and eyefinity.

My system will basically do the same thing, but not with the frequency of yours. This most often occurs after the system goes to sleep and then wakes back up. A few minutes later, one of the displays will go black, as you described. Unplugging and replugging the USB of the active DP adapter usually fixes it until the next time the computer goes to sleep.

1. Make sure the active DP adapter is getting enough power. I have an extender cable running up to a powered hub on my desk, (which also makes unplugging and replugging the adapter a lot more convenient).

2. There was also a solution of going into power options/advanced settings/USB Settings/USB selective suspend setting and pick "Disabled." Although I didn't see much difference by doing this.

3. If you do notice it being related to system sleeping, you could always disable sleeping if it really bugs you. (I don't. I just count re-plugging the usb adapter once in a while as a minor inconvenience.)

This has been my experience. Hopefully you can find some of it helpful. :)

I just noticed that there is also a whole sticky thread above about this too.

http://widescreengamingforum.com/forum/forums/multi-monitor-gaming/amd-eyefinity-discussions/13546/active-dvi-dp-adaptor-testing-solu